QUESTION 7Olivia Desanges

WHAT IS CONTINUITY AND WHY IS IT

IMPORTANT?

Continuity is the maintenance of continuous action

over time, and is important as it would then make

sense to the audience and with no continuity then

there would be confusion and make the film look

unprofessional

WHAT IS THE 180 DEGREE RULE?

It is the guideline which regards the relationship

between the characters and the camera. It is an

'invisible line' which the camera does not cross

OUR PRELIM USING THE 180 DEGREE RULE

We filmed the character using a low angle shot and

then the camera remained on this side of the

line/character when the character is walking out. In

our opening sequence, again, we used the 180

degree rule with a different shot to make it more

unique and interesting

OUR OPENING SEQUENCE USING THE180

DEGREE RULE

In these scenes, the camera does not cross 'the

invisible line', it stays on the left side of the

character for the shots

The camera is on the left of the characters face,

and in the next shot, remains on this side of the line

- which is beneath/opposite the characters face and

hands

WHAT IS MATCH ON ACTION?

This is where the editing cuts from one shot of a

character to another shot of the character which

then matches the first shot's action

HOW WE USED MATCH-ON-ACTION IN OUR

PRELIM

We showed the character from behind walking

down the corridor and then cut from the character

opening the door to being inside the room and

filming the character walking into the room.

This is quite a typical match on action scene, and

so I feel we progressed in our opening sequence

HOW WE USED MATCH ON ACTION IN OUR

OPENING SEQUENCE

This shows the character walking down the stairs, and the next shot

of the character walking to the bottom of the stairs and stopping, but

the first shot being from the characters point of view and the next

shot, the camera being in front of the character

This is different to our preliminary task, as we have shot the prelim

with long shots and medium long shot, whereas in out opening

sequence we used more angles and shot types, and I feel I improved

as this is a slightly different way of showing match on action

WHAT IS SHOT REVERSE SHOT?

This is when one character is shown looking at one

character and then the other character is shown

looking back at the first character

SHOT REVERSE SHOT FROM OUR PRELIM

In our prelim we showed shot reverse shot by

having a low angle shot of one of the characters

‘talking down’ at the other, and then the second

character and then back to the other character.

Again, this is quite a simple/typical way of showing

shot reverse shot, and is a conversation so is

normal, whereas our opening sequence is able to

use shot reverse shot to create some meaning and

mystery.

SHOT REVERSE SHOT IN OUR OPENING

SEQUENCE

Here, we used shot reverse shot in a photo shoot rather than a

conversation, which is again different to our preliminary task, and I

feel I improved in this area as it is not too typical - shot of a

character, then the photographer and then back to the first character

yet is seen in a different way

Due to different things happening, such as the shot being a medium

long shot, then a medium shot of the photographer and then a big

close up of the characters face, it allows the shot reverse shot to add

to the mystery and psychology behind our film

HOW HAVE I DEVELOPED WITHIN

CINEMATOGRAPHY, SHOTS, ANGLES ETC

I have developed as I now use certain shot types to show

empowerment over other characters - such as using the

camera from the bottom of the stairs angled up to show that

character having more power, and how she is the main

character

I also feel I have developed as in our opening, I used a worms

eye view shot which I haven't used before, and I was able to

include the different shots and angles to show as much of the

location or props, such as when we put the camera in front of

the table and did a high angle shot to include all the props,

which had could all

I feel that with our opening, I used different type of shots to be

able to create meaning and used them to show the mystery of

our film

IMAGES OF HOW I HAVE IMPROVED

Using a worms eye view to show a

different perspective of the object,

and also linking this to our titles –

so emphasising this

Using a high angle shot to show

the audience what else is in the

frame – the other props and it’s

looking down at the character so

cannot see what is being written

but then this creates mystery

Our low angle shot showed this

character being the dominant one,

yet in our opening sequence we used

the high and low angle shots and

worms eye shot to show props

creating meaning

HOW I IMPROVED WITHIN EDITING

Within the editing, in our prelim, no editing was used

other than cutting between speech, however no colour

editing or other transitions or music was used. So I feel I

improved by using certain editing techniques and which

helped towards creating mystery and tension. We

changed the colouring of certain frames and the way

one frame led to another, such as the end frame

finishing with a flash to lead on to the titles, so with the

colours we chose, it meant suspense and mystery

created – adding to our sub genre of our opening.

Also, in our prelim, where we were cutting from one

frame to another, it was very jumpy and was not a clean

transaction between scenes – in a few, some start and

ends of sentences were cut off due to editing a clip too

short

IMAGES ON HOW I HAVE IMPROVED

I have improved by making the scene black and white which allowed

more meaning to be created, whereas in our prelim it was very simple

with not much editing on at all. I have also improved with the black and

white titles being similar to the black and white colouring we used for the

one scene.

HOW HAVE I IMPROVED WITHIN THE MISE-EN-

SCENE

I feel I have improved by making sure that the lighting we used, and

the props all have something to do with our film – in our prelim, we

were located in the textiles classroom with the textiles machinery and

boards, which wasn’t as apparent to our actual film, whereas the

other locations we used for our film, and what the locations included

were apparent. For example, we used a basement which had

Christmas decorations in the corner which showed the audience how

the room wasn’t used much etc. There were more props in our film

such as what is used for developing photos, which were important for

creating the character and showing the audience who that character

is.

Also, lighting was effective as we made the scenes darker, more

black and white than normal in our film to portray the mystery of our

thriller, whereas in our prelim we didn’t change the lighting, we kept it

the same, so we didn’t think too much about the mise-en-scene, yet

in our film we thought much more about it.

IMAGES ON HOW I IMPROVED

So the lighting was important to make it more dreary and more mysterious

for our film, whereas all lighting in the prelim is the same – the props and

location in our opening show more thought, and the location had props

which were important for the character’s role.

HOW HAVE I DEVELOPED WITH TITLES

In the titles I have been able to use different fonts and size to create

a meaning – such as using the typewriter to make it slightly slower

and more dramatic.

I have used colours as well to portray certain feelings – such as

using white lettering on a black background which makes it seem like

more of a darker thriller, more mysterious etc.

The transitions into the title I have also developed on too – we used

a flash from the photographers camera to go into the titles so it links

well, is meaningful and fits the theme well

Our titling linked well with some of the scenes which were black and

white and which were darker. So I feel I developed by linking the

titles well with other parts of the film, and to the film as a whole, such

as when we filmed the character cutting up the negative photos.

IMAGES ON HOW I IMPROVED

I developed, as similar to the film SE7EN, it is white writing on dark,

and black scenes and it links well to the film – SE7EN links to the

seven sins the character uses to kill people, and negatives links to the

photographer, and the scene where we filmed the negative cuttings.

So, I developed by thinking more about what the film title represents

and what the look and colouring of the title represents.

CONCLUSION

I feel I have improved over the process as I have thought much more carefully on what makes a thriller a thriller, and how this adds to our own chosen sun-genre – how do we make our thriller a mystery thriller. I have thought and compared our film to real films and thought about what we don’t have that real films do – for example, music – there are normally times of silence in real opening films to add to tension and create that suspense right from the start; there’s normally little if no dialogue and more shot types to emphasise the thriller genre. For example, in Se7en, there were a range of shot types used to show everything going on, however no dialogue was involved, only music which created emotion. So I feel I have improved by using features of real film in our film to fulfil the genre.

I have also learnt about the different features of film and how they have a huge impact on the film itself. The emotion created by sound, the ways the colouring and titles portray a certain type of genre, how jump-cuts can also create a certain type of emotion, and how shot types and different angles show a character in a certain type of way –dominant, a victim, powerful, the main character etc.

CONCLUSION

I have also learnt how facial features help portray

certain characteristics of, such as our character

keeping a straight face to show little emotion and

not knowing about what’s going to happen etc, so

by thinking in detail about the small things it allows

the build up of character and it adds to the film

fitting the genre well, and I have learnt about this in

detail over the process.